HARARE-- The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced the results of all ten provinces in the race for the presidency after Monday's elections, with incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa of the Zanu PF party winning 50.8 per cent of the vote, compared with 44.3 per cent for Nelson Chamisa, the candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance.
Chamisa won in four provinces -- Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, Harare and Manicaland. Mnangagwa won in the other six province -- Moshonaland East and Mashonaland Central, Matabeleland South, Masvingo, Midlands and the rural province of Mashonaland West, whose results were the last to come in. It came as no surprise since the province is known to be a ZANU-PF stronghold.
Analysts say it appears that Chamisa has not done enough to unseat Mnangagwa from his rural support base.
In a shock impromptu media conference, two men claiming to be members of the MDC Alliance addressed the waiting media at the results centre, alleging that they had not been able to verify the results. One man who claimed to be the MDC Alliance's chief polling officer said they reject the results of the election.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has echoed calls from the UN Secretary-General appealing for calm in Zimbabwe.
We're very concerned by what it is that we are seeing and we need to investigate the details. The Secretary-General himself has appealed for calm and we would echo this and we are watching and monitoring it very carefully. Clearly, if there are reports and there seem to be of excessive use of force, these need to be investigated and need to be curtailed and stopped at the earliest possible opportunity. And so we're watching it as everyone else is, he said.
The elections for the presidency, parliament and local council took place peacefully on Monday but were marred by violence on Wednesday as protesters and the security forces clashed, with six persons killed.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
